DEFENCE
Tim van de Molen: Focus on Information, Maritime, and People needed National Party spokesperson for Defence and Veterans Tim van de Molen writes that the time is right for identifying what investments are needed to defend our values, play a leadership role in the Pacific, and contribute internationally.
Tim van de Molen is National Party spokesperson for Defence and Veterans and a former member of the New Zealand Army Reserve Forces.
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The three months since the last Line of Defence publication have flown by, and during that time we have seen significant geo-political pressure in the Pacific alongside the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine. As this global security situation evolves, we must reassess our foreign policy, our Defence priorities, and the subsequent investment, to determine if they are still fit for purpose. At a time when many of our international partners are committing to spending two percent of their GDP on Defence, our government released the annual Budget in May which showed Defence spending dropping to less than one percent of GDP by 2025/26.
Part of this was their recent cancellation of the planned $300$600M investment in a new patrol vessel for the Navy. We have seen plenty of unnecessary spending by this government and we need to see that reined in, however in my view, Defence funding shouldn’t be cut – especially given the current heightened global tension, which is unlikely to disappear in the coming years. We are sending all the wrong signals. Now is the time for us to stand clearly by the values we hold dear as a country, and to stand strongly alongside our international partners in joint condemnation of breaches of these values.
Line of Defence
